This week, I was lucky enough to go sailing thanks to my lovely co-worker Sheu-Jane Gallagher! She is one of the coaches for the DTX Launch program and we connected over our shared passion for the sport. Sheu-Jane mentors two teams from the DTX Launch program: Syntheslide, a digital pathology start-up focused on mobile whole slide image production; and CarePRN, a mobile application connecting patients and home health care providers. As a coach, she helps these teams through the program and offers advice from her many years of entrepreneurial experience.

Sheu-Jane has worn many different hats at TechTown since she first started working there in 2009. As director of entrepreneurial services, she managed all of TechTown's lab-based programs, such as the DTX Launch program and other accelerators. Before her time at TechTown, Sheu-Jane worked in the automotive industry for Ford Motor Company and Decoma International. She came to Detroit for a job teaching engineering at Wayne State University 16 years ago.

Like me, Sheu-Jane is an East Coast native. She received a PhD in mechanical engineering with a focus on biomedical engineering from Rutgers University. It was during college that she first stepped on a sailboat after a kind professor offered to take her sailing. After moving to Detroit, she took lessons at the Detroit Yacht Club with her husband John (see David's blog for more information on him). Now she races on the Detroit river every Thursday with the dynamic ladies of the Mas Cencerro. Named after the famous SNL skit, the boat's name means "more cowbell" and reflects the quirky spirit of the all-female crew.

In my happy place

Though the wind was too light to conduct any races, we cruised the Detroit River under motor and observed sailors struggling to make progress out of nearby Bayview Yacht Club. We shared stories of sailing at our home ports and reflected on the many life lessons the sport has taught us.

David was not allowed on the all-female Mas Cencerro

The sailing community is a wonderfully tight-knit support group that transcends geographic boundaries. There is something about the sport that connects people of all different genders, races, and ages and provides for endless conversation. As I spend more time exploring entrepreneurship in Detroit, I am realizing that entrepreneurs share a similar connection- a passion that unites them to form an unwavering community and support system. I witnessed this yesterday at Detroit SOUP, a microgranting dinner supporting local entrepreneurs. At the event, the public paid a $5 donation to hear four pitches and vote on their favorite, with the winner receiving all donations. Though the entrepreneurs were technically competing against one another, they each stressed the benefits of gathering in the community to share common interests, passions, and ideas.

The crew at Detroit SOUP

Sheu-Jane is lucky enough to be part of both the sailing and entrepreneurial community. In addition to working at TechTown, she was elected to the board of directors of the New Enterprise Forum, an organization dedicated to providing resources to local entrepreneurs. She also serves as a commissioner for the Michigan Commission on Community Action and Economic Opportunity.

Through my work at TechTown and our weekly enrichment activities, I feel myself slowly creeping into the entrepreneurial community here in Detroit. Hopefully, by the end of the program, I will feel the same sense of community in other entrepreneurs as I do with other sailors, and be able to take this passion and spirit of entrepreneurship back to Long Island and Durham.